Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific Gold Edition

by UBI Soft

Product Features

• Hollywood Blockbuster Experience - Lifelike graphics and spectacular audio/visual effects offer an incredibly immersive gaming experience. Witness historical accuracy and amazing attention to detail, from breathtaking Pacific settings to more than 75 authentic-looking war machines such as the U.S. Gato sub, the Japanese Yamato flagship, and the Kawanishi aircraft
• Large-Scale Naval Engagements - Witness epic naval engagements either firsthand or via radio messages and orders from high command.
• Innovative Crew Evolution - Earn upgrades and experience to guide the evolution of crewmembers, making your men the most effective naval force in the Pacific theater
• Immersive Single-Player Gameplay - Diverse mission objectives and events on over 15 maps combined with unique rewards make each campaign a unique experience. Commandeer various U.S. submarines and progress in your career as a naval officer via improved dynamic campaigns in Career mode, or dive into instant actions' and single patrols for a quick fight.
• Addictive Online Adversarial Mode - Join forces with up to 8 friends via LAN or 4 via the Internet in either cooperative or adversarial gameplay modes. Scripted and generated mission types allow for epic online battles and unlimited replayability

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001BBS8B0
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: August 11, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,167 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #94 in Video Games > PC Games > Simulation

Product Description

Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific Gold EditionPC

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best submarine simulation game., February 27, 2009

By 

M. Wang (CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific Gold Edition (DVD-ROM)

This is by far the best submarine simulation game available right now. It caters to both hardcore armchair submarine commanders and casual gamers who are attracted to the genre after watching Run Silent, Run Deep by offering a wide range of realistic settings. After trying the highest level of realism, I quickly admit that I fall into the latter category and revert back to the default level, which is a lot less tedious and more fun.

The sizable hardcore fan community does have a positive impact on my experience, specifically, the availability of mods. Like most niche games, this title is bug ridden and poorly supported. The mods help alleviate some of the frustration. After some experimentation, I settle for the Trigger Maru Overhauled super-mod. It is frequently updated and relatively well maintained. The looks and feels in the game improve greatly as a result.

I run the program on Vista x64. It still hangs the entire system on rare occasions, but I have been able to complete quite a few patrols with frequent saves. I am no teenager with twitchy trigger fingers, and this game requires just the kind of deep strategic and tactic thinking that I enjoy. The graphics are beautiful, contributing to an immersive experience that deserves recommendation.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cream at the top of a great sim series, October 3, 2008

By 

C. Utt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific Gold Edition (DVD-ROM)

I came across the German U-Boat version, and enjoyed it very much. That game had a steeper learning curve than this one. The series allows you to set the realism/difficulty level that you are most comfortable with. This game ranges from full manual torpedo attacks to "point & shoot" from the periscope. I have had a lot of fun with this and highly recomend it. Even though I don't have a top of the line PC, the graphics and gameplay flowed smoothly.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Experience the Past, September 27, 2009

By 

Jason S. Taylor "Marco's Realto" (Portland Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific Gold Edition (DVD-ROM)

Video game's are generally patronized and thought of as a newfangled toy. Few would dream of calling a video game "art". Yet all art is in a sense a "toy"-it is an exercise of our aesthetic sense and imagination and is designed to give pleasure both to the maker and the audience. And Silent Hunter for has a gift for aesthetics and a laudible craftsmanship that certainly make it worthy to be called, if not high-class art, certainly folk art. And occasionally folk art is more attractive.
And yet Silent Hunter IV is not just a game. It is a time machine. It is a way for him to feel a little of the spirit of the times, when the mightiest fleets ever assembled strove for control of the world's oceans.
SHIV is a simulation of US submarine operations in the Pacific. The player takes the role of a sub captain. One of the most interesting and challenging jobs in the service and one of the most demanding to a persons fortitude. A sub captain is one of the few that has to choose to put himself into peril and when he does he must endure a different type of war. It is a geeky type of war , in which a man cannot prosper by letting his aggression run away with him like an Achilles. A sub captain must go on for hour after hour, calculating the subtleties of math, physics and oceanography as well as the even greater complexities of the human mind of his opponent. There is not a sudden spurt of action, but a long drawn out process, for hour after hour waiting for death or victory in a split second. And if a sub captain fails it is forever. Most lost submarines were lost with all hands and often without trace.
The intro shows a short trailer with a quote from Milton's "Time" in a deep voice. I don't know why they chose that poem-it seems rather inappropriate to the theme. Yet on the other hand the talk of "time" does express the point that the player is experiencing his grandfather's war.
The graphics are beautiful. From the seascapes, to the detailed pictures of ships and sailors to the explosions and flames and smoke from your victims. The game mechanics give you the feeling of actually being there. From briefings and intermittent broadcasts from the radio, you get the feeling of creeping despair during a defensive phase of the war, and of elation during an offensive phase. And you get a feeling that war is now not so much an event as an institution and that the whole world has become one vast Valhalla. That there was no longer "a" war, but just "war". Which, of course, was true at the time. There are also little details, including the players "office" at the navy base with papers sprawled along the desk, and a cup of coffee in the corner(as Samuel Eliot Morrison once said,"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but it wouldn't like to try").
The actual combat gives a glimpse of what it must have felt like. Of course not one could give more then a glimpse otherwise it would be no longer a game. But once you gain confidence you start to gain the arrogant predatory instinct of a submarine captain. And when you are in danger the tension can be frightening. When the enemy gets a close enough pattern of depth charges you hear the cries from all over the ship, "pressure hull damaged", "We have flooding", etc. And if it is close enough this process starts to carry you down, down,down into the depths. It is so intense that once I actually felt I had to get up and make myself a cup of tea just to calm myself down after a session in which I died bravely(no doubt the Japanese gave me the proper tribute for an honorable enemy).
There are other twists. There is a little role-playing attached. In the "Career" version you are given the pleasure of glory, reputation and promotion; and even a wee bit of the frustration of dealing with the naval establishment(don't worry; just enough to maintain the atmosphere). You also get the experience of juggling crew assignments in the most advantageous manner.
SHIV is an attractive, educational, and entertaining piece of work and well worthy of one's attention.